Man City beats CSKA 2-1 in Champions League

Published Oct. 23, 2013 7:45 p.m. ET

foxsports

Sergio Aguero scored twice in the first half as Manchester City came from a goal down to earn a 2-1 victory over CSKA Moscow in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Zoran Tosic put CSKA ahead in the 32nd minute after lobbing goalkeeper Joe Hart following a pass from Keisuke Honda, but the visitors were quick to equalize two minutes later. David Silva surged into the box before crossing for Aguero who guided the ball past Igor Akinfeev.

Aguero put the visitors ahead, heading in Jesus Navas' cross in the box in the 42nd minute.

''It's a very important victory. The team that wins today has a lot of chances to go to the next round,'' Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini said. ''It's not the last match of the group, but now I think we have to play the next game at home to decide whether we can qualify for the next round, and that's very important for us.''

CSKA relied on sharp counterattacks and Seydou Dumbia tested Hart in the first minute. The home side was forced to make an early substitution when defender Alexey Berezutskiy came in for his twin brother Vasiliy six minutes into the game because of a knee problem.

Alvaro Negredo wasted the visitors' first scoring opportunity when his weak shot from inside the box was blocked by Akinfeev in the 30th.

Both sided have a goal disallowed in the second half.

Negredo saw a yellow card for scoring after a handball in the 47th, and Ahmed Musa hit the target after the referee blow a whistle for a foul in the 82nd.

CSKA pushed for an equalizer and dominated late in the second half, but were thwarted several times by Hart. The goalkeeper made his best save when he blocked Honda's shot from six meters with his left foot in the final minute of injury time.

''We allowed too many mistakes considering the quality of the opponent,'' CSKA coach Leonid Slutsky said. ''It's a real shame. It's so galling that it's hard to choose the right words. ... It was absolutely within our grasp not to lose, at least.''

The victory put Manchester City temporarily level on six points with leader Bayern Munich at the top of Group D's standings. CSKA remained third with three points. Bayern host Viktoria Plzen later on Wednesday.